- “Border Patrol” gang shot-caller, some gang members flee Minneapolis in wake of murders
Source: New York Post
“The US Border Patrol’s chief Greg Bovino and some agents have been ordered out of Minneapolis in a stunning turnaround after a second US citizen was [murdered] by federal agents in the city this month, according to reports. The order does not extend to ICE and it does not include all Border Patrol agents. However, Bovino will be joining the agents ‘imminently’ marching out of the state, Fox reported. … Chaos has reigned in the Minnesota city since Jan. 7 when anti-ICE protestor and mother-of-three Renee Good, 37, was murdered] by an ICE agent …. A second American, armed ICU nurse Pretti, was [murdered] Saturday …” (01/26/26)
- Ukraine: Russian attack on Kharkiv causes mass power outages
Source: Reuters
“Russian drones and missile strikes on Monday hit Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, knocking out power to 80% of the city and surrounding region and striking apartment buildings, a school and a kindergarten, local officials said. Two people were injured, Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.” (01/27/26)
- Bitcoin remains coiled under $88,500 as gold tops $5,000, silver gives back gains
Source: CoinDesk
“Bitcoin slipped to about $88,400 in early-week trading, extending a roughly 4% decline over the past week as major cryptocurrencies softened. The token’s underperformance versus rising equities and surging gold underscores that crypto is trading more like a high-beta risk asset than a safe-haven hedge. Traders are cautious and volumes muted ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision and a wave of Big Tech earnings, events seen as key catalysts for bitcoin’s next move.” (01/27/26)
- ICC judges find former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte fit to stand trial
Source: Seattle Times
“Judges at the International Criminal Court ruled on Monday that former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is fit to stand trial, after postponing an earlier hearing over concerns about the octogenarian’s health. Duterte is facing charges of crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in dozens of killings as part of his so-called war on drugs when in office, first as the mayor of a southern city and later as president. Lawyers for the 80-year old had argued Duterte was in frail health and his condition was deteriorating in the court’s detention unit.” (01/26/26)
- Lebanon: Regime files UN complaint against Israeli regime’s daily ceasefire violations
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Lebanon has filed a complaint with the United Nations about repeated Israeli violations of a November 2024 ceasefire, calling on the Security Council to push Israel to end its attacks and fully withdraw from the country. The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants said the complaint, sent on Monday, stressed that Israeli abuses are a ‘clear’ violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. … Despite the 2024 ceasefire, the Israeli military has been launching near-daily attacks in Lebanon, which have killed hundreds of people. In November last year, the UN put the number of civilians killed in Israeli attacks at at least 127.” (01/26/26)
- FL: Regime seeks to ban “West Bank” from official vocabulary
Source: The New Arab [UK]
“A measure is being advanced in the Florida legislature to officially recognise the term ‘Judea and Samaria’ and ban ‘West Bank’ in official state documents. The name change, which has strong support in both chambers of the Florida state legislature, would mean that all official documents, including press releases, school textbooks, and library materials, would refer to the area west of the Jordan River by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria. … Supporters of the bill say it seeks to recognise a historic location, while critics say it is a tactic to erase Palestinian identity—and possibly further Israeli control over the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967 (and expanding illegal settlements ever since).” (01/26/26)
https://www.newarab.com/news/florida-aims-ban-west-bank-official-vocabulary
- Trump Can Probably Kiss a Future Nobel Peace Prize Goodbye
Source: Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland“Although he covets the Nobel Peace Prize itself, President Donald Trump, in his second administration, has dialed up government aggression both at home and abroad.” (01/26/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/26/trump-nobel-peace-prize/
- Immigration — A Pox on Both Your Houses
Source: Coyote Blog
by Warren Meyer“It is almost impossible to have a discussion on immigration with either Republicans or Democrats because the conversation quickly devolves into a pointless blame game, eg ‘”how can you defend x when other defenders of x have done so many things wrong’ where x = something like ‘the virtues of immigration’ or ‘consistent enforcement of current immigration laws.’ Well, I can give you the definitive answer to this blame game — it is both their faults. Before getting into it, a bit of history.” (01/26/26)
https://coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2026/01/immigration-a-pox-on-both-your-houses.html
- Latest Federal Killing in Minnesota Echoes Ruby Ridge
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by James Bovard“On Saturday, federal agents in Minneapolis killed protester Alex Pretti, shooting him in the back 10 times after they had taken away the pistol he legally carried. White House Deputy Chief Stephen Miller quickly settled the issue: ‘A would-be assassin tried to murder federal law enforcement and the official Democrat account sides with the terrorists.’ A few hours after Pretti was killed, I commented on Twitter/X: ‘How many of the Trump supporters cheering the killing of the Minneapolis demonstrator today would also cheer for the FBI sniper killing Vicki Weaver in her cabin door at Ruby Ridge in 1992?’ This outraged plenty of Trump supporters but the parallels between the federal killings in 1992 and on Saturday are striking.” (01/26/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/latest-federal-killing-minnesota-echoes-ruby-ridge
- America Is Now a Family Business
Source: Persuasion
by Stephen E Hanson & Jeffrey S Kopstein“Donald J. Trump has returned to the presidency with a simple, radical ambition: to turn the American state into a family business. And business is booming: since Trump took office, he and his family have made an estimated $3.4 billion. Meanwhile, the scale of transformation of the American body politic has been jaw-dropping. Loyalty now counts for more than competence in government service, public office is openly monetized, and personal favor has replaced impersonal rule as the basis of authority. More than a century ago, Max Weber identified this form of government and gave it a name — patrimonialism.” (01/26/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-patrimonial-president
- Why Small Educators Will Outsell Big Influencers
Source: Arkhub Insights
by Arkhub Insights“Small creators don’t outperform big accounts because they’re better marketers. They outperform them because they’re better embedded in the lives of the people they serve. Their audiences aren’t scrolling past them. They’re listening, asking questions, and coming back. That dynamic is incredibly familiar if you’ve ever taught anything. Educators, coaches, and practitioners have always operated this way.” (01/26/26)
https://arkhub.substack.com/p/why-small-educators-will-outsell
- Republicans and MAGA: Carrying a Gun Is a Bad Thing Now
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Ryan McMaken“It’s increasingly difficult to imagine anything the Trump administration can do that conservatives and Republicans will not make excuses for. There is apparently no federal power and no act by the US’s standing army of federal cops that Trump supporters won’t endorse. The latest example is Republicans new assault on the Second Amendment and against private citizens carrying firearms. GOP mouthpieces are informing us that Americans are not allowed to be armed with a gun at a protest.” (01/26/26)
https://mises.org/power-market/republicans-and-maga-carrying-gun-bad-thing-now
- Two cities under siege
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko“Remarkably similar scenes from Boston and Minneapolis, 260 years apart, show a federal government betraying its founding principles.” (01/26/26)
- The Alex Pretti shooting and the growing strain on the First Amendment
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Aaron Terr“The drumbeat of statements from the administration that are openly hostile to basic First Amendment rights should disturb every American. And when Americans see someone shot dead in the street shortly after recording federal agents — and then hear top government officials immediately justify the shooting before any investigation can begin — they will reasonably fear that exercising these rights carries not just legal risk but physical danger.” (01/26/26)
https://www.thefire.org/news/alex-pretti-shooting-and-growing-strain-first-amendment
- From Bush to Trump
Source: Notablog
by Chris Matthew Sciabarra“As I have argued, Trump’s project is less about controlling crime, and more about deporting those ‘illegals’ who don’t fit into his vision of a country dominated by white identity politics. … The irony of all this is that Trump once decried the administration of George W. Bush as ‘failed and uninspiring.’ But if it were not for the ‘innovations’ of Bush’s presidency, crafted nearly a quarter-century ago, Trump would not have had the instruments of domestic warfare and ethnic cleansing that he’s been using with impunity.” (01/26/26)
- Embrace Cultural Creative Destruction
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“Almost everyone embraces ‘cultural’ critiques of capitalism. The left has ‘cultural studies;’;the right has the mantra, ‘We’re a country, not an economy.’ The upshot, in both cases, is that government ought to do something about culture. Freeze it in place? Force it to progress? Turn back the clock? My latest book of essays, You Have No Right to Your Culture: Essays on the Human Condition, flips this narrative. All of these demands for ‘reshaping culture’ are thinly-veiled calls for coercing humans.” (01/26/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/embrace-cultural-creative-destruction
- No Healthy Person Wants To Rule The World Or Become A Billionaire
Source: Caitlin Johnstone
by Caitlin Johnstone“No mentally healthy person wants to rule the world. Nobody with a functioning conscience and a working empathy center in their brain is interested in becoming a billionaire. We are ruled by the most dysfunctional members of our species. The most wounded, neurotic and sociopathic among us. The least wise, caring and insightful. What drives a person to claw their way to the top of a wildly sick society and become a lord of the dystopia?” (01/26/26)
- Reason Roundtable, 01/26/26
Source: Reason
“When Did Republicans Stop Caring About Gun Rights?” (01/26/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/01/26/when-did-republicans-stop-caring-about-gun-rights/
- The Kyle Anzalon Show, 01/26/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“ICE Using AI to ID Targets, Breaking Down Trump’s WEF Speech.” (01/26/26)